Suppose the debt of a chapel which is paid off to be L600; the
responsible agents above referred to shall contribute annually, till it
arrives to L300, half the debt, when they will have fulfilled their
agreement. But they must, from the first payment of interest till all
the chapels are out of debt, contribute ten shillings for every L100
of debt, which sum, with the united exertions of the churches, will
liquidate the other ten shillings in the pound. For instance: Suppose
the churches in one county to be thirty, an annual contribution of three
pounds from each will produce L90; this, added to the interest of the
chapel so cleared, will make L120, to pay off the debt of another
chapel, which shall also contribute to its interests, and small annual
contribution; and so on, till all the churches are out of debt. This
plan is similar to lending money without interest, as the interest paid
clears the principal, and the principal they will only have to pay at
ten shillings in the pound, the small annual contributions making up the
deficiency. A list of the churches and their debts should be placed
every year in the Magazines, with an account of the debts so reduced.
A BAPTIST.
_Nov. 12, 1834._
P.S. Since writing the above, I have seen an article in the Magazine for
this month, which only confirms my opinion that something must be done,
and that speedily, to effect this _great_ and desirable object.
REMARKS ON A PAPER, ENTITLED
"ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF THE TERM MORAL."
_To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine._
The paper of W. N. in your November number, whilst it contains some
very valuable remarks on the abuse of the term _moral_, appears to
aim at overthrowing one particular instance of a very general abuse,
and to strike at the branch, whilst it leaves the root to flourish
with the same vigour as before. The expression "moral approbation and
disapprobation" cannot be deemed an unnecessary application of the term
_moral_, because approbation and disapprobation are frequently excited
in the mind by _physical_ agents; and although Dr. Wardlaw, in the
passage quoted above by W. N., refers the approbation and disapprobation
to "_moral_ agents," yet the phrase in question precedes that
application, and therefore the term "moral" renders the sentence more
clear than it would be, were it needful for the reader to employ the
conclusion of the sentence to explain the commencement. The instance
quoted from the Quarterly Review is so gross an abuse of language, that
little apprehension need be entertained of its repetition. The passage
stands like the topmast of a ship-wrecked vessel, to warn others of
the shoal on which she was stranded. All the other instances used as
illustrations in W. N.'s paper are examples of the evil attendant upon
a departure from one principle, viz.: That a simile should never be
explained. Of course, this principle presupposes another: That a
simile should never require explanation. In the two first instances
adduced--"The Lord God is a sun and shield," and "Jesus said, I am the
door"--the beauty of the similes would be entirely destroyed by the use
of the adjective _moral_, and the only reason why the fourth instance,
"A _moral_ blight," is not so glaring an abuse of language as the two
former is, that the term blight is so frequently used in a figurative
sense, that, when it is so used, we are liable to forget that the
expression is figurative. But for this circumstance, the ridiculous
character of the phrase would be quite as obvious as the absurdity of
speaking of a moral apple, or moral plum. Another instance of the
inelegance of explaining a simile is met with in the prayers of those
who quote from the Liturgy the passage "We have done that which we ought
not to have done, and have left undone that which we ought to have done,
and there is no health in us;" but distort the original to "there is no
_spiritual_ health in us;" thus destroying at once the strength and
harmony of one of the finest specimens of forcible and beautiful
composition which decorates English literature. In this case also, as in
that of "moral blight," health is so often used in a figurative sense,
that we are apt to forget that the expression is a simile; or the phrase
"_spiritual_ health" would sound as disagreeably as the commencement of
the same portion of the Liturgy, were it altered to "We have erred and
strayed from thy _spiritual_ ways, like lost _spiritual_ sheep." All
these inaccuracies in composition proceed from attempts to explain
similes, an attempt which ought to be cautiously avoided; because a
simile is an endeavour to explain or illustrate a subject by means of
some analogy subsisting between it and another subject; and it is
evident, that an explanation or illustration which requires a further
explanation to make it intelligible, is much better omitted; and that an
explanation of that which is already clear, is a glaring instance of
tautology, and, therefore, a gross defect in style.
A.
_November 20th, 1834_